Sam Reinhart Heating Up at Right Time for the Florida Panthers

Sam Reinhart went pretty deep into his season with the Florida Panthers before warming up.

He is on fire right now.

Reinhart did not score his first goal of the season until he netted two in Anaheim on Nov. 6 — 13 games in.

At that point, he had just three points.

“Things haven’t been clicking,’’ Reinhart said then. “The thing is to not get frustrated, especially early on when you don’t have the numbers. There’s a lot of season to get the confidence built. At the start of the season, you almost force plays to help each other get out of a slump instead of making simple plays to benefit everyone.”

Look at Reinhart now.

In Florida’s past four games, Reinhart has five goals and eight points.

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Reinhart is now up to third on the team in goals (12) and fourth in points (24).

Things are starting to work out again.

“we’re keeping things simple,” Reinhart said after getting a goal and three points in a win over Columbus last week. “Our whole group focuses on the defensive side of the puck and that offense opens up and it becomes easier to attack on the defensive side.”

Reinhart got off to a similar start last season, only scoring two goals in the first month of the season.

He ended with a career-best 33 goals and 82 points.

The Panthers, what with Sasha Barkov and Anton Lundell out of the lineup of late, have needed his offensive push.

They’ll be looking for more moving forward.

Right now, Reinhart had a goal and assist at Boston on Monday night for his second consecutive multi-point game and sixth of the season.

His four-game goal streak is tied for the longest of his career and is tied for the longest on the Panthers this season.

And, his goal on Monday night was his 400th career NHL point.

He knew the good days would be coming back when the season started only sometimes it is hard to go through those things.

”It’s human nature to get down when you’re brought in and paid to produce,” Reinhart said before he got his first goal.

“That’s our job and it is frustrating. But the looks are there … we just have to stick with it. And it’s nothing new, I have been through spurts like this before.”

FLORIDA PANTHERS ON DECK

NEW JERSEY DEVILS AT FLORIDA PANTHERS

• When: Wednesday, 7 p.m.
• Where: FLA Live Arena, Sunrise
• National TV: TNT
• Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM 2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932
• Season Series (Florida leads 1-0): Panthers 4, Devils 2 (Dec. 17)
• Last season: Florida won 2-1
• All-time regular season series: Devils lead 56-34-7, 7 ties
• Up Next for the Panthers: Friday at New York Islanders, 7:30 p.m.